Juan Landázuri Ricketts

Juan Landázuri Ricketts, OFM (born Guillermo Eduardo Landázuri Ricketts; December 19, 1913 – January 16, 1997) was Peruvian Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Lima from 1955 to 1989. He was one of the most prominent Catholic bishops during the 1960s and 1970s in Latin America. He was a member of the Order of Friars Minor.

This was a period in which the Church took a strong stance against human rights abuses by numerous military juntas; it also expressed a preference for the poor and concerns about extreme poverty and wealth inequality. Before he turned 80 on December 19, 1993, Juan Landázuri Ricketts was the last cardinal elevated by Pope John XXIII to retain voting rights in a papal conclave.

Early life Born as Guillermo Eduardo Landázuri Ricketts in 1913 in Arequipa, Peru, he was educated in Catholic schools, and entered the Convento de Ocopa seminary at the age of 17.

He joined the Order of Friars Minor in 1937 (taking the name Juan) and was ordained a priest two years later, on 16 May 1939. By 1962 he had been selected as Primate of Peru and was made a Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria in Aracoeli by Pope John XXIII in June 1962.

In response, the entrenched oligarchy called him and Bishop Leonidas Proaño "Marxist manipulators." By comparison, in 1961, the Rand Corporation, a United States think tank, called him "moderate and able".

He was also trying to ensure that the laity and nuns had considerable say in local decision-making.

He became a major participant as Acting President in the 1968 Medellin Conference, more formally known as the Second Episcopal Conference of Latin America. At its core, the Medellin Conference's final report, fully embraced Liberation Theology, which was "the church's decision to make a pastoral option for the poor."

In 1970, in accordance with his Franciscan ideals, and the "reforming spirit" of the times, Landázuri Ricketts left the Archbishop's palace and moved into a small house in a working-class area of Lima.

Although he served on the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue during the 1970s, his relationship with the Vatican soured after the ascension of John Paul II. That pope believed that liberation theology posed problems for Catholicism and was too involved in opposition to temporal political systems. Despite being an extremely respected prelate, Landázuri Ricketts had to accept more conservative Opus Dei bishops and sympathisers being appointed in Peru during the 1980s and 1990s.

Later life and death

He was regularly elected as the leader of local episcopal conference almost without opposition until he reached the age of 75 in 1988. He served as a voting Cardinal in three papal conclaves, until he lost his right to vote as a Cardinal-Elector at the age of 80.

Due to his advancing age, he resigned his role as head of the South American Bishops' conference in 1989. He retired from the see in 1990 and was succeeded by Augusto Vargas Alzamora.

On 24 December 1996, he was admitted to a hospital with a diagnosis of advanced stage cancer. He died on 16 January 1997.